Well, I got that Eldorado yesterday...

[Anderson]

So, I've got an Eldorado now...
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/614853454803894272/655376882509807617/20191213_150742.jpg

I need to apologize in advance for blathering a bit, but I got to fire her up this afternoon (upon delivery).  After a bit of charging (the car had an initial charge from the delivery man, but the battery needed a little bit of help when I turned it off so we could stick the temporary tags on), I was able to drive her home (though I only drove her home due to the lousy weather...it was "misting" out at just the right rate to require running the wipers intermittently but not enough to avoid lots of squeaking if I ran them continuously).

Thoughts (which will probably not be a surprise to anyone on here):
-I was pleasantly surprised by the handling.  It was very much "point and shoot", for lack of a better way to put it.  It frankly compares somewhat favorably to my current car (which is...er...a 1988 560 SEL that, as my mother once said, "turns on a buck fifty").
-The car has a high idle (I may look into seeing if we can turn that down; idle will send it across the parking lot at about 10 MPH).
-It's going to take some getting used to the size of the front end.  I'm only half joking when I say it feels like I should be declaring that I'm garaging the front of the car in another county.  That is a "getting used to" thing, however, more than it is a "problem"; as I noted, it's not like I've never driven a large car before, and the turning handling actually means I think I might have an easier time parking the Eldorado than I do parking my current Mercedes.
--Ditto the (very different) control setup.  I'm used to a late 1980s Mercedes setup (two of my four cars over the years have been that) or an early 2000s Ford setup (the other two were a Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car) and it hit me after the fact that there's as much time difference between the Eldorado and those latter two as there is between the Eldorado and a Lincoln Zephyr.

But basically...I think I'm in love, which is probably the first time I've ever said that about a car.

(Now, to figure out what poor schmuck is going to get stuck doing a state inspection on this car...)

[Bill Young]

Congratulations , and welcome to the world of OCD , Old Cadillac Disorder. You have the symptoms. So do I I have owned 30 of them since 1970.

[Rich S]

Congratulations! It looks like the first model year of the 500 cubic inch V-8 engine and from the front, the car looks very nice. I think it is Condor Blue? When you have a chance, tell us more about it. The '70 Eldorados were a great year for classic styling and well ahead of their time. The '70 Eldorado has an extremely fine presence on the road today among the many plain vehicles.

[Anderson]

So, where to begin...

(1) I think you're right on the color (IIRC there were two or three shades of blue at the time, but from what I can tell from pictures Condor Blue is probably right).
(2) The styling is amazing.  No way around that, the car is magnificent.
(3) Having driven it a bit more today (the weather cleared, I wanted to get the tank filled up, and...well, let's face it, I'm basically five years old on Christmas morning right now; I can't think of being this excited about driving a car save for /maybe/ when my mother handed me the keys to my first car...), it has a little more "play" in the steering than I'm used to.  That is taking a little bit of getting used to.  Otherwise, though, it handles quite well.

I'm not quite certain whether the motor is a 472 or a 500 (the dealer said it was a 472, the front grille says it's 8.2L, which translates to the 500).  There's certainly a lot of "work space" under the hood (gee, it's almost like GM expected people to do basic maintenance on their cars then and didn't want to force mechanics to drop the engine to work on them...)

As far as "issues":
-The battery died on me while I was at Barnes and Noble.  However, I'm chalking this up to "I did a stupid and left the lights on"...there was a light drizzle on my way over there (it was pouring earlier) and I forgot to put the lights back off (which is, in turn, down to not being used to the control scheme...and it was light enough out that I didn't realize they were still on).  I'm probably going to look at getting a fresh battery and/or have the alternator checked out, just to be safe.
-I got a jumpstart and the guy doing the jump noticed what /might/ be a crack on the cylinder head, so that's on the list for things to have looked at when it goes in for a state inspection on Monday.
-So, here's a photo from under the hood: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TVUErrkTrdVqbz2f8
I have no idea what that thing is which popped out, but it's got me scratching my head.
-Finally, the guy who gave me the jump warned me of a possible crack in the head.  I'll try to get a picture of that later.

And yes, Bill, I'm pretty sure I've got that ;-)

30 over 50 years is quite impressive!

[76eldo]

Looks pretty good under the hood.
It should be a 500 unless something happened and the engine was swapped with a 472.
Good luck with the car. I also have a 70 Eldorado and I love it.

Brian

[TJ Hopland]

I'm assuming the thing that popped out is that round thing between the air cleaner and valve cover?  That is the breather, no big deal.   See if it pops back.  If it doesn't it could be because the rubber piece is hard and no longer grippy.  Not sure if that one is reproduced or not.  That is the air inlet for the crank case ventilation system.  The round thing is the filter to keep the big chunks out.   

Cracked head?  Thank the guy for the advice and the jump and run away.  Heads don't crack where you can see them on the outside unless you are talking about something like an ear for an exhaust manifold which these don't have.  Most of the time when a head cracks its not obvious even when its disassembled on a bench.  Anything is possible but these heads are not at all known for crack issues.   Get us a picture of what he is pointing at and I'm sure its easily explained and not likely serious.

Most parts stores and batteries plus sort of places will load test batteries and a basic alternator alternator test.   Full alternator test usually is done off the car.    Since it was able to start with that not especially large jump box and presumably kept running things are not likely too bad.   If the battery was dead and the alternator wasn't working as soon as you disconnected the jump box it would have died or it would have died on your way home.   That being said unless you were in the book store for most of the day with the lights I would have expected you to be able to start it again so maybe something is weak.

Get us a pic of the battery,  we can likely guess how old it is and if its the proper size for the car.   The size for these cars isn't that common any more and tend to be expensive so its possible someone cheeped out and got something too small and or too low of quality for a car like that.       

[Anderson]

The "thing that popped out" is *just* far enough out of where it should be that I can't quite get it back in without a bit of a reach.  <Insert jokes about having enough space in there to have to register it as a house here>

Ok, two photos.  First, the battery:
https://images.app.goo.gl/9reDJYSEc21u5JUGA

Second, I took a picture of where I remember him pointing out the (alleged) crack and I can't make it out:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MQWxbnBJveHKq2TN7

Since he was just there to jump the car and wasn't a mechanic, I'm frankly going with "has never seen an old Detroit engine before in his life".

Finally, after I took the pictures, I accidentally confirmed just how well gravity closes the hood on these cars...let's just say it's a bit more...dramatic...than a Mercedes hood of the same vintage ;-)

[35-709]

I don't see any cracks, maybe he was looking a the casting marks on the exhaust manifold?  Can you draw an arrow directly to the supposed crack?

[Anderson]

I'm not sure I could if you paid me to.  That's the rub.  I'll put eyes back on it in the morning (I don't feel like lifting the hood again tonight) and see if I can visually identify it and go from there.

[35-709]

"I'm frankly going with "has never seen an old Detroit engine before in his life"."

Good.  If you really have a crack you will know about it soon enough, but I'm with TJ.

[Roger Zimmermann]

What I see on the last picture is a valve on a water hose. Probably there is a leak at the heater core and this was done as a temporary repair…
Otherwise, the engine compartment is clean which is not the rule.

[wrench]

Nice car.

The following are my opinions based on your comments.

When I got my 70, I switched to a solid state voltage regulator. It had an old mechanical one and it was all over the place voltagewise.

Also, one of the things I love about the Eldorado is the effortless steering. Palming the wheel on such a large and powerful car is a lot of fun. It is also accurate so if you have some slop, you should have whoever is doing the state inspection put it on a lift and check out the steering for worn items. Mine has play in the pitman arm and I will be replacing it next spring.

As for the idle speed, I have found that mechanics who even know what a carburetor is are hard to come by nowadays.

That Eldorado is a handful of mechanical systems and if you are not mechanically inclined, it will take some effort to find a professional mechanic who can help you with keeping it going.

They are great cars and a lot of fun to drive.

[SixDucks]

Congratulations!  Welcome to the wonderful world of Cadillac ownership!  About the only thing I can see wrong..... or can't see, is not nearly enough pictures of your car.  More pics please.

Terry

[Anderson]

Nice car.

The following are my opinions based on your comments.

When I got my 70, I switched to a solid state voltage regulator. It had an old mechanical one and it was all over the place voltagewise.

Also, one of the things I love about the Eldorado is the effortless steering. Palming the wheel on such a large and powerful car is a lot of fun. It is also accurate so if you have some slop, you should have whoever is doing the state inspection put it on a lift and check out the steering for worn items. Mine has play in the pitman arm and I will be replacing it next spring.

As for the idle speed, I have found that mechanics who even know what a carburetor is are hard to come by nowadays.

That Eldorado is a handful of mechanical systems and if you are not mechanically inclined, it will take some effort to find a professional mechanic who can help you with keeping it going.

They are great cars and a lot of fun to drive.

Very fortunately, there's a well-recommended classic car mechanic located about a mile from my house as well as a specialist shop for classic car work not far from here.  I'm in SE Virginia; the only hassle is that we've actually got multiple places that will take a classic Mercedes without blinking but not much on the American side (thanks to the number of retired military folks who brought over cars back during the Cold War, before the stupid NHTSA rules got tightened).  I also marked off a few decently-rated shops between here and DC/Baltimore (family/work puts me up there a lot...no, I won't be doing that drive in the winter...I know what salt does to the undercarriage ;-)) as well as one or two in central Florida (no, I won't be driving to Florida, either...the Auto Train is far preferable to that).

I'll do what I can to get a few more pictures later.  The main issue was just lousy weather when I got it (it was delivered in pouring rain).

I'm also going to see if I can get the sound system looked at.  I'm pretty sure it's all original and it buzzes and the sound output can be a bit erratic.

(And I pity the poor schmuck who has to do a state inspection on this car...I have a feeling I'll be needing to use small words to explain that no, it does /not/ have a catalytic converter and it isn't required to...)

By the way, question not yet answered: Is the battery a good pick for the car?

Serious fuel question: 89/91/93 octane?  And any recommendations on an anti-ethanol fuel additive (to avoid those issues)?  I'm not in an area with lots and lots of "real" gas stations and I'd rather not burn a quarter tank getting to/from the gas station...

[chrisntam]

93 octane!  It’s got 10 to 1 compression. 

[Anderson]

Pictures of that crack.

[Anderson]

So, the front driver's side tire de-treaded on the toad this afternoon. Joy.

We got onto the shoulder in good order but we lost the "Eldo" on the driver's side.  More annoying is anything.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

By the way, question not yet answered: Is the battery a good pick for the car?   

The picture you showed of the Battery turned out to be a cartoon.

Please repost the picture of the actual Battery.

Bruce.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Yep, that's a crack.

If it isn't too far through, I would consider removing it and having the crack metal sprayed at a good machine shop.

But, consideration should be made as to the condition of the bolts before trying to remove it, as if you break any bolt, you will think the crack was nothing compared to the following "fix" to replace the broken bolt.

Sometimes, one has to learn to live with a problem until it HAS to be fixed.

With regards the delaminating tyre, it sounds like you should replace the rest of them, as if one has gone, the rest will.   Age is a problem here.   When I purchased my own '72 Eldo in 2008, the tyres looked good, but I ended up with 3 tyres delaminating in a short period, miles wise.

Bruce.

[Anderson]

Bruce,
Nice emoji choice...let's try this one: